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One final day off for the Minnesota Twins before they are back in action to begin the second half of the season. With no Major League Baseball, the Minor Leagues take center stage. RED WINGS REPORT Lehigh Valley IronPigs vs. Rochester Red Wings Box Score Thanks to nine shutout innings from the Red Wings pitching staff, Rochester dealt Lehigh Valley's Aaron Nola his first AAA loss of the season. The Red Wings rode another strong Tyler Duffey (4-4) start to victory. Duffey went six innings g
The Minnesota Twins can arguably be looked at as the most surprising team in baseball through the first half of the season. With most projections suggesting another 90 loss campaign as far more likely than a playoff run, the Twins have taken the majors by storm. Now at 49-40, with the second best record in the American League, does Minnesota sink or swim? Having had a poor month (to put it lightly) under their belt already, the Twins have proven they can handle adversity. If they are going to re
It is time for part 2 of my mid-season prospect list. Here are the top 30 position player prospects in the Twins system: 1. Byron Buxton (1): CF, 12-18-93 2015 status: Buxton is basically done with minor league baseball. He got injured again, but should be back with the Twins in September. ETA: already arrived. 2. Miguel Sano (2): 3B, 5-3-93 2015 status: Has obliterated the baseball after his promotion to the Twins. He is also done with minor league baseball. Sano will be used as the DH prim
Generally, lights out relievers are hard to come by. While you can put together a makeshift bullpen in hopes of finding things that work, the really good ones often get hung onto. With the emergence of closer importance for teams, seeing the Craig Kimbrel's and Aroldis Chapman's of the big leagues dealt on a yearly basis often doesn't happen. On July 18, 2014, it did happen though. A guy with a 2.78 career ERA, 299 saves, and a 9.0 K/9 was sent packing. Not only are those great numbers for a b
Aaron Hicks is only 25. Entering the All-Star Break he has yet to have his 700th plate appearance, and he’s played in just over 180 games. And yet, he’s already dropped switch-hitting for a brief time period, has been called out by former manager Ron Gardenhire and assistant general manager Rob Antony for showing up to the ballpark and not knowing who the starting pitcher was that day, and after not making the team out of spring training this year the Star Tribune reported that he might not get
What a week, and what a night. Brian Dozier sent walkoff blasts into the stands for the Twins. He had hopes of winning the Final Vote. He was beat out by a Royal, and then, he was the only one that mattered. Following his 8th inning blast, the Twins Dozier was the only second basemen in the All Star Game to record a hit. As great as those events have all been, Dozier's next accolade is in a different category altogether. As the second half kicks off, Dozier and the Twins have their eyes on anoth
One of my favorite people to follow on twitter for baseball news and analysis is Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated. He used to write for Baseball Prospectus and while there he developed a metric Jaffe War Score System. The baseball fan’s favorite website Baseball Reference explains Jaffe’s metric. “JAWS measures a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness by comparing him to the players at his position who are already enshrined, using advanced metrics to account for the wide variations in offensive levels
We're hosting a contest for anyone who wants to write a few words about the Vikings and their upcoming season. The best entries will win a spot on our party bus heading down to Mankato on July 25th. Interested? Check out the details courtesy of Bo Mitchell: http://vikingsjournal.com/_/minnesota-vikings-news/minnesota-vikings/vikings-journal-kickoff-party-in-mankato-r616
A year ago, on a rainy night in downtown Minneapolis, some of the biggest sluggers took center stage for the 2014 Home Run Derby. While the Minnesota twins and Target Field were no doubt excited to play host to All Star week, there's no doubt that the playing conditions were going to be adverse on this night. When the dust settled, Yoenis Cespedes reigned supreme, and massive shots were hit, but the event still felt stale. Forget the fact that inclement weather pushed the action back, or that
You can download the new Talk to Contact (<a href="https://twitter.com/talktocontact">@TalkToContact</a>) episode via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-to-contact-podcast-about/id556784825?mt=2">iTunes</a> or by clicking <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/entry/2015-07-09T18_33_51-07_00" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/rss2.xml">
When a team plays drastically better from one year to the next, it usually means one of a couple things. With some teams, it means a number of key offseason acquisitions have paid off. For others, especially if the roster is largely intact from a season ago, it suggests that some guys — usually younger players — have taken a step forward and elevated their game to a new level. Considering the complexion of this current Twins roster, the latter seems far more likely. Sure, players from the outs
We have officially hit the All Star Break in Major League Baseball, and while the stretch run is where the pretenders and contenders are sorted out, the Twins are currently one of the best teams in baseball. It feels odd to say, given what expectations were, and what results have been, but it rings absolutely true. At the break, Minnesota owns the second best record in the American League, and their own best mark since 2008. It's no longer too early to suggest the playoffs are in sight. 44, 40,
Kyle Gibson continued his breakout campaign against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon, helping the Twins complete a series win against their division rival heading into the All Star Break. Miguel Sano also delivered his second career home run, avoiding the silent treatment in the dugout for the first of many more times. Oh, and news flash: The Twins Have the Second Best Record in the American League! In the minors on Sunday, there was one game that had a ton of offense, and a bunch more
I'm jumping the gun by a day, but the Twins are approaching the All-Star break and they certainly qualify as contenders. After beating Detroit today, they are tied for the second best record in the league at eight games over .500. One can't help but be a little optimistic about the Twins chances for the last 74 games. Today was a high point, not only hammering Detroit's starting pitcher, but also the mid-game announcement that Brian Dozier would indeed make the 2015 All-Star team, all on the hee
Before there was Jackie Robinson, there was Hank Greenberg. Although Jackie Robinson was African American, Hank Greenberg was Jewish,but still encountered racism during his Detroit Tiger playing days before Robinson debuted in 1947. Many Jews in Detroit and around the country refused to buy Ford Cars because of the founder’s philosophy. They also comforted themselves with humor, telling Henry Ford jokes like the one where a fortune-teller informs Ford that he will die on a Jewish Holiday. “ Whic
Injuries are never good, and cheering for an opposing player to go down is not something anyone would advocate for. However, they are an inevitability in the world of sports,and the Twins have a big opportunity thanks to two recent maladies. Both the Tigers and the Royals were bit by the injury bug in a bad way recently. Detroit watched stay first basemen Miguel Cabrera head to the disabled list for the first time in his career. Early indications suggest he could be out into September. The hurt
Mike Pelfrey did not pitch great for the Twins on Thursday night and was a victim of his own efficiency as a low pitch count had him in the game into the eighth inning, despite a well-rested Twins bullpen after a midweek sweep of the Royals. Pelfrey ran into trouble and the Tigers scored a pair of runs and the Twins failed to respond. The Twins are now just 2-8 against Detroit this year. RED WINGS REPORT Buffalo Bisons @ Rochester Red Wings Box Score Nearly 4,000 fans at Rochester's Fronti
Going into the 2015 Major League Baseball season, the Twins knew they had some deficiencies. Of the most glaring were veteran leadership and outfield depth. Terry Ryan and crew addressed that problem in one sweep signing fan favorite Torii Hunter to a one-year $10.5 million deal. While I was critical of the move from the get go, it's played out better than anyone could have imagined. Torii was being sold as a veteran leader, and there's no doubt he brought that ability. From a baseball sense how
To kick off the week, the Minnesota Twins welcomed the Baltimore Orioles into the friendly confines of Target Field. Looking around the diamond, it's hard not to get a little upset knowing J.J. Hardy is standing at shortstop while Jim Hoey is off building computers somewhere. Although the Twins have been on the short end of the stick in their fair share of roster moves, this season it's been about one of the best trades in recent memory. Despite looking to make a run at the playoffs in 2014 by b
My wife phoned to say someone at work was looking to sell a couple of bleacher tickets at Fenway. So, mere hours later (well, 30 is "mere", no?), I was on the Worcester commuter train, getting off at Yawkey Station. Fun game versus the Marlins. Tied 1-1 for a long while, then the Sox starter Miley tired at around the 100-pitch mark and the score became 3-1 at the seventh inning stretch. But the home team came right back and loaded the bases against Cishek in relief of Haren, with a single, wal
Could someone tell me how adding and subtracting players to/from the 40 man roster works? For example- let's say the Twins want to bring up Fryer, and therefore would need to add him to the 40 man. In addition, they DFA Herrmann and remove him from the 40 man. Fryer gets hurt or is ineffective, can they reverse everything in a month or so? Same with O'Rourke. Say he gets bombed, hurt, etc. Can they just remove him and add someone else?
Just under a month ago, I told you that Brian Dozier is entering elite territory amongst Major League Baseball. Since that time, Dozier has done nothing but squash my silly notion. Instead of entering elite territory, he instead has defined what elite is amongst Major League Baseball. At this point, you're probably wrong about the Twins second basemen, and so is the league itself. We are less than a week away from the midsummer classic. Major League Baseball has unfortunately pinned World Series
The hottest talk on Twins fans’ lips after the promotions of Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano has been whether or not this is a team that should buy or sell at the trade deadline that looms in a mere three and a half weeks. It’s a legitimate question with no easy answer, as the Twins have hung around in a heavily competitive division. And if you buy into the idea that the Tigers could fall back a bit with the loss of Miguel Cabrera, and that the White Sox and Indians have yet to play their best ball
Houston reached base 3 times on Thursday. He's hitting .308/.398/.440 (.838) since joining the Surge and stole his 14th AA base. His 38 total SB is tied with Yasser Mercedes for organizational lead.
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Winning the Cedar Rapids Kernel prize from TD is far better than winning the FIFA World Peace Prize. Thanks.· 0 replies
